DOCSLIB.ORG

"Dust and Ashes": the Funeral and Forgetting of Sabato Morais

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Scholarship at Penn Libraries Penn Libraries 9-1996 "Dust and Ashes": The Funeral and Forgetting of Sabato Morais Arthur Kiron University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/library_papers Part of the Jewish Studies Commons Recommended Citation Kiron, A. (1996). "Dust and Ashes": The Funeral and Forgetting of Sabato Morais. Retrieved from https://repository.upenn.edu/library_papers/69 Suggested Citation: Kiron, Arthur. (1996). "Dust and Ashes": The Funeral and Forgetting of Sabato Morais. American Jewish History. Vol. 84(3). p. 155-188. This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/library_papers/69 For more information, please contact [email protected]. "Dust and Ashes": The Funeral and Forgetting of Sabato Morais Keywords Jews, Biography, Death and Burial Disciplines Arts and Humanities | Jewish Studies Comments Suggested Citation: Kiron, Arthur. (1996). "Dust and Ashes": The Funeral and Forgetting of Sabato Morais. American Jewish History. Vol. 84(3). p. 155-188. This journal article is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/library_papers/69 "Dust and Ashes": The Funeral and Forgetting of Sabato Morais· ARTHUR KIRON Who were those hundreds and thousands that crowded Fifth Street this afternoon for entire squares from side to side, leaving just room enough for the cars to pass? Who were those hundreds whose weary feet traveled the distance from Fifth and Green to Twelfth and Federal streets? A guard of honor it was which kings might envy. Who were they?] Sabato Morais remains something of a riddle to students of nineteenth­ century American Jewish history, just as the phenomenon of his thou­ sands of mourners baffled observers at his funeral in November I897.2 .. This essay was originally submitted for a Colloquium on American Jewish History conducted by Professor Arthur Aryeh Goren at Columbia University, Spring, 1995. Special thanks to Arthur Aryeh Goren, and to Maria Baader, Arnold M. Eisen, Abraham J. Karp and Jonathan Karp for their close readings of earlier drafts. Many thanks to Congregation Mikveh Israel and the National Museum of American Jewish History, Philadelphia, PA for their kindness and help during an earlier stage of this project's research. I am especially grateful to the Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, particularly David M. Goldenberg, Associate Director of the Center and Aviva Astrinsky, Director of the Library at the Center, for giving me the opportunity to work with the Sabato Morais Papers. The following abbreviations have been used: AH, The American Hebrew; AJA, American Jewish Archives; AJH, American Jewish History; qs, Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania; DAB, Dictionary of American Biography; DHL, Doctor of Hebrew Literature; EJ, Encyclopedia Judaica; HUC, Hebrew Union College; IHL, Sabato Morais, Italian Hebrew Literature; JE, Jewish Encyclopedia; JQR, Jewish Quar­ terly Review; JTSA, Jewish Theological Seminary of America; LBIYB, Leo Baeck Institute Yearbook; M I, Mikveh Israel; OCC, The Occident and American Jewish Advocate; PAAJR, Publications of the American Academy of Jewish Research; PAJHS, Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society; PJAC, Philadelphia Jewish Archives Center; PJE, Philadelphia Jewish Exponent; SM, Sabato Morais; UJE, Universal Jewish Encyclope­ dia; YU, Yeshiva University. 1. Marcus Jastrow, PJE, November 19, 1897, 6. Edwin Wolf 2nd estimates the Philadelphia Jewish community grew from approximately 15,000 in 1880 to 70,000 in 1904. See Edwin Wolf 2nd, "By the People and for the People," typescript history of the Federation of Jewish Charities, PJAC, 21, cited in Robert Tabak, "Orthodox Judaism in Transition," in Jewish Life in Philadelphia: 1830-1940, ed. Murray Friedman (Philadel­ phia, 1983),48 and 318, n. 1. Cf. the figures listed in Jacob Rader Marcus, To Count a People: American Jewish Population Data, 1585-1984 (Lanham, 1990), 194: 40,000 in 189°,75,000 in 1900. 2. Morais' dates of birth andlor death have sometimes been misstated. He was born on Sunday, April 13, 1823 (2 Iyar 5583) in Livorno and died on Thursday, November II, 156 A MER I CAN JEW ISH HIS TOR Y A. Kiron: The Funeral and Forgetting of Sabato Morais 157 We know the rough outlines of Morais' life,3 just as his contemporaries, of course, knew the identity of the immigrant Eastern European Jewish amerike . .. on sofek" {"without doubt ... the greatest of all orthodox masses who lost a day's pay to attend his burial that rainy Monday rabbis in the United States"),s has become almost invisible in standard afternoon in Philadelphia.4 But the Italian-born Morais, who two years accounts of the American Jewish past. As the centenary of his death after his death was memorialized by Kasriel Sarasohn's Orthodox New approaches, this neglect is all the more surprising, given the statement by York Yudishe Gazeten as "der grester fun ale ortodoksishe rabonim in Cyrus Adler, one of American jewry's most visible public figures in the early twentieth century, that "to the Jews of England, France, Italy, and the Orient, [Morais] was the representative American Jew."6 The New 1897 (16 Marheshvan 5898). According to the morning edition of the (Philadelphia) Public York Times remembered Morais as "the most eminent rabbi in this Ledger, Friday, November 12, 1897, the PJE, November 19, 1897, and the account of his country . a powerful and aggressive factor in discussions of vast son Henry S. Morais, a founder and editor of the PJE, who apparently was present at the import and interest to millions of people; a deep, incisive, fearless time of his death, Morais suffered a stroke Wednesday evening, November 10, lapsed into a coma for approximately twenty-two hours, awoke briefly and finally died of a massive thinker, speaker, and writer."7 Moshe Davis declared in 1947, fifty years brain seizure shortly before 6:00 p.m., Thursday, November II, 1897. His funeral service after Morais' death, that "a volume on Sabato Morais, his life and times, occurred the following Monday, November 15, at 2:00 p.m. is a desideratum in American Jewish history."8 Despite this high 3. See the biographical information and memorial tributes specially prepared after estimation of Morais by his contemporaries and by Davis, the call for Morais' death for the PJE and AH, November 19, 1897. For guides to the primary and secondary sources, see Dianne Ashton, The Philadelphia Group: A Guide to Archival and such a publication went unanswered. In a recent survey of scholarly Bibliographic Collections (Philadelphia, 1993); Moshe Davis, "Sabato Morais: Selected and Annotated Bibliography of his Writings," PAJHS 37 (1947): 55-93; Arthur Kiron, "Sabato Morais Papers Finding Aid" (CjS, 1992). Since Morais' death, a handful of 56; Judah David Eisenstein, Otsar Zikhronotai, Part I (New York, 1929), 20; Alex J. reminiscences, brief biographical sketches, articles and two unpublished theses have Goldman, The Greatest Rabbis Hall of Fame: A Who's Who of Distinguished American appeared. In particular, see Henry Samuel Morais, Sabato Morais: A Memoir (New York, Rabbis (New York, 1987),99-114; Henry S. Morais, The Jews of Philadelphia (Philadel­ 189 8) [reprinted from the Proceedings of the Sixth Biennial Convention of the Jewish phia, 1894), 59-63; Pamela Susan Nadell, Conservative Judaism in America: A Biographi­ Theological Seminary Association (New York, 1898)]. For a collection of reminiscences cal Dictionary and Sourcebook (New York, 1988), 190-93; Abraham A. Neuman, read on the occasion of the centenary of Morais' birth (1823-1923), see William Rosenau, "Morais, Sabato," UJE 7 (1942): 638-40; Jack Riemer, "Morais, Sabato," EJ 12 (1971): "Sabato Morais-An Appreciation of the Centenary of His Birth"; Marvin Nathan, 294-95; Solomon Solis-Cohen, "Necrology," PAJHS 8 (1900): 149-50; Cyrus L. Sulzberger, "Discussion," in Central Conference of American Rabbis Yearbook 33 (1923): 35 6-74; "Morais, Sabato," JE 8 (1904): 679-81. Commemoration of the One Hundredth Anniversary of the birth of The Reverend Doctor 4. For a colorful description of immigrant Jewish life in Philadelphia around this time, Sabato Morais by the Congregation Mikveh Israel, Wednesday Evening, April 18, 192 3 see "Jewish Immigrant Life in Philadelphia, From The Sunday Mercury, August 10, 1890," (Philadelphia, 1924). Other reminiscences include Cyrus Adler, "Semi-Centennial Ad­ reprinted in AJA 9 (April 1957): 32-42. For background on the Philadelphia Jewish dress," and Joseph H. Hertz, "Sabato Morais-A Pupil's Tribute," in The Jewish community during the second half of the nineteenth century, see Morais, Jews of Theological Seminary Semi-Centennial Volume, ed. Cyrus Adler (New York, 1939), 5-6; Philadelphia; Murray Friedman, ed ., Jewish Life in Philadelphia, 1830-1940 (Philadel­ 46-48. For the two theses, see Max Samuel Nussenbaum, "Sabato Morais: Champion of phia, 1983); Maxwell Whiteman, "Philadelphia's Jewish Neighborhoods," in The Peoples Orthodoxy" (D. H. L., Bernard Revel Graduate School of Yeshiva University, 1964) and of Philadelpha: A History of Ethnic Groups and Lower-Class Life, 1790-1940, eds. Allen Ruth Alpers, "Traditionalism, Americanization, and Assimilation: The Struggles of Sabato F. Davis and Mark H. Heller (Philadelphia, 1973), 231-54, and additional Yiddish Morais, 1851-1897" (rabbinic thesis, Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, sources, 251, n. 10. 1994). For articles about Morais, see Alan D. Corre, "Sabato Morais and Social Justice in 5. Yudishe Gazeten ("The Jewish Gazette"), Pesah blat ("Passover Issue"), March 24, Philadelphia, 1858-1897," in The Quest for Social Justice: The Morris Fromkin Memorial 1899, 12. I am grateful to Rabbi Abraham J. Karp for bringing this rare source to my Lectures, ed. Alan D. Corre (Milwaukee, 1992), 19-35; Moshe Davis, "Shabbtai Morais: attention. A copy of this issue can be found in the Abraham and Deborah Karp Collection toldotav, de'otav u-fe'ulotav," in Sefer ha-shanah li-yehude amerikah, ed.
Recommended publications
  • Livornese Traces in American Jewish History: Sabato Morais and Elia Benamozegh Arthur Kiron University of Pennsylvania, Kiron@Pobox.Upenn.Edu

    Livornese Traces in American Jewish History: Sabato Morais and Elia Benamozegh Arthur Kiron University of Pennsylvania, [email protected]

    University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Scholarship at Penn Libraries Penn Libraries 2001 Livornese Traces in American Jewish History: Sabato Morais and Elia Benamozegh Arthur Kiron University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://repository.upenn.edu/library_papers Part of the Jewish Studies Commons Recommended Citation Kiron, A. (2001). Livornese Traces in American Jewish History: Sabato Morais and Elia Benamozegh. Retrieved from http://repository.upenn.edu/library_papers/71 Suggested Citation: Kiron, Arthur. "Livornese Traces in American Jewish History: Sabato Morais and Elia Benamozegh." in Per Elia Benamozegh. Ed. Alessandro Guetta. Edizioni Thalassa De Paz, 2001. This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. http://repository.upenn.edu/library_papers/71 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Livornese Traces in American Jewish History: Sabato Morais and Elia Benamozegh Disciplines Arts and Humanities | Jewish Studies Comments Suggested Citation: Kiron, Arthur. "Livornese Traces in American Jewish History: Sabato Morais and Elia Benamozegh." in Per Elia Benamozegh. Ed. Alessandro Guetta. Edizioni Thalassa De Paz, 2001. This book chapter is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/library_papers/71 LTRR VOLUMR PUBBLRC TR ~ Aa. Vv., Pensare Auschwitz, Pardes Italia 1, 1996. Aa. Vv., Ebraicita e Germanita, Pardes Italia 2, 1999. A. Guetta, Filosofia e Qabbalah. Saggio sul pensiero di Elia Benamozegh, 2000. Sedici autori Per Elia Benamozegh. in appendice: L'Origine des dogmes chretiens, cap. III. e Da Em La-Miqra: commento a Genesi I, 1. Per Elia Benamozegh. Atti del Convegno di Livomo (settembre 2000) (Testo origin ale. Presentazione e traduzione di Alessandro Guetta) Alessandro Guetta (ed.). Con due appendici: L'Origine des dogmes chretiens, cap.
  • The Influence of Progressive Judaism in Poland—An Outline

    The Influence of Progressive Judaism in Poland—An Outline

    The Influence of Progressive Judaism in Poland ♦ 1 The Influence of Progressive Judaism in Poland—an Outline Michał Galas Jagiellonian University In the historiography of Judaism in the Polish lands the influence of Reform Judaism is often overlooked. he opinion is frequently cited that the Polish Jews were tied to tradition and did not accept ideas of religious reform coming from the West. his paper fills the gap in historiography by giving some examples of activities of progressive communities and their leaders. It focuses mainly on eminent rabbis and preachers such as Abraham Goldschmidt, Markus Jastrow, and Izaak Cylkow. Supporters of progressive Judaism in Poland did not have as strong a position as representatives of the Reform or Conservative Judaism in Germany or the United States. Religious reforms introduced by them were for a number of reasons moderate or limited. However, one cannot ignore this move- ment in the history of Judaism in Poland, since that trend was significant for the history of Jews in Poland and Polish-Jewish relations. In the historiography of Judaism in the Polish lands, the history of the influ- ence of Reform Judaism is often overlooked. he opinion is frequently cited that the Polish Jews were tied to tradition and did not accept ideas of religious reform coming from the West. his opinion is perhaps correct in terms of the number of “progressive” Jews, often so-called proponents of reform, on Polish soil, in comparison to the total number of Polish Jews. However, the influence of “progressives” went much further and deeper, in both the Jewish and Polish community.
  • The Talmud's Two Jubilees and Their Relevance to the Date of the Exodus

    The Talmud's Two Jubilees and Their Relevance to the Date of the Exodus

    Westminster Theological Journal 68 (2006): 71-83 The Talmud’s Two Jubilees and Their Relevance to the Date of the Exodus The Babylonian Talmud mentions two, and only two, occasions for the observance of a Jubilee. The question of whether there actually were Jubilees at the times specified, or whether these passages reflect a later projection of ideas back into a previous age, is a matter of some importance. It bears on the question of when Leviticus was written, because many scholars date the composition of Leviticus, particularly of the so-called “H” or Holiness Code that established the Jubilee and Sabbatical years (Lev 17–26), to exilic or post-exilic times. An exilic or post-exilic date for the Holiness Code would be difficult to maintain if it could be shown that Sabbatical years or Jubilee years were observed before the exile, since the observation of such rituals in the ancient Near East always presupposes their written codification. One way to evaluate whether the two Jubilees mentioned in the Talmud were genuine historical events is to examine the dates assigned to them. The two passages are in b. ‘Arak. 12a, mentioning a Jubilee in the time of Ezekiel, and in b. Meg. 14b, mentioning a Jubilee in the time of Josiah. The ‘Arakin passage is as follows: “Is it not written: In the five and twentieth year of our captivity, in the beginning of the year, in the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after that the city was smitten. Now which is the year the beginning of which falls on the tenth of Tishri? Say: This is the jubilee year.” 1 The argument the Talmud presents here is that the verse quoted (Ezek 40:1) gave the day as both “the beginning of the year” (Rosh HaShanah or New Year’s Day) and also as the tenth of the month.
  • We All Know, the Emancipation Was a Great Turning Point in the History Of

    We All Know, the Emancipation Was a Great Turning Point in the History Of

    PROGRESSIVE LITURGIES OF GERMANY AND AMERICA 585 p- John D. Rayner Introduction As we all know, the Emancipation was a great turning point in the history of Judaism, although ‘point' is hardly the right word, since it was a long-drawn- out process extending from the eighteenth century into the twentieth. Nevertheless the initial impact of it was often felt by a single generation, and in Germany by the generation of those born during the Napoleonic era. As we all know; too, the initial impact was for many of the newly emancipated German Jews a negative one so far as their Jewish religious life was concerned because the revolutionary educational, linguistic, cultural and social changes they experienced caused them to feel uncomfortable in the old- style synagogues. And as we all know as well, it is to this problem, of the alienation of emancipated Jewry from the traditional synagogue that the Reformers first and foremost addressed themselves. They believed that if only the synagogue services could be made more attractive, that would halt and perhaps reverse w the drift. 0 . _ {:1 j N In retrospect we can see that they were only partly right. There are other 8E}; factors besides the nature of synagogue worship which determine or influence the extent to which individuals will affirm their Jewish identity \ :8 " and adhere to their Jewish faith, and subsequent generations of Reformers 13E came to recognise that and to address themselves to these other issues also. (3 ‘1‘: Nevertheless the nature of synagogue worship is clearly a factor, and a big one.
  • Moses Hayim Luzzatto's Quest for Providence

    Moses Hayim Luzzatto's Quest for Providence

    City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works All Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects 10-2014 'Like Iron to a Magnet': Moses Hayim Luzzatto's Quest for Providence David Sclar Graduate Center, City University of New York How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/380 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] “Like Iron to a Magnet”: Moses Hayim Luzzatto’s Quest for Providence By David Sclar A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty in History in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The City University of New York 2014 © 2014 David Sclar All Rights Reserved This Manuscript has been read and accepted by the Graduate Faculty in History in satisfaction of the Dissertation requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Prof. Jane S. Gerber _______________ ____________________________________ Date Chair of the Examining Committee Prof. Helena Rosenblatt _______________ ____________________________________ Date Executive Officer Prof. Francesca Bregoli _______________________________________ Prof. Elisheva Carlebach ________________________________________ Prof. Robert Seltzer ________________________________________ Prof. David Sorkin ________________________________________ Supervisory Committee iii Abstract “Like Iron to a Magnet”: Moses Hayim Luzzatto’s Quest for Providence by David Sclar Advisor: Prof. Jane S. Gerber This dissertation is a biographical study of Moses Hayim Luzzatto (1707–1746 or 1747). It presents the social and religious context in which Luzzatto was variously celebrated as the leader of a kabbalistic-messianic confraternity in Padua, condemned as a deviant threat by rabbis in Venice and central and eastern Europe, and accepted by the Portuguese Jewish community after relocating to Amsterdam.
  • SHABBETAI TZVI the Biggest Hoax in Jewish History Nathan the Prophet and Tzvi the Messiah

    SHABBETAI TZVI the Biggest Hoax in Jewish History Nathan the Prophet and Tzvi the Messiah

    1 SHABBETAI TZVI The Biggest Hoax in Jewish History While faith in the coming of the messiah is a linchpin of Judaism, Jews have traditionally taken a patient, quiet approach to their messianic beliefs. Since the devastation wreaked by false messiah Bar Kochba and his rebellion against the Romans, and the centuries of persecution caused by another messianic movement — Christianity — Jews have been understandably suspicious about anyone’s claim to be God’s anointed. The rabbis of the Talmud went so far as to introduce specific prohibitions against messianic agitation, instituting the “three oaths” which prohibited any attempt to “force the end” by bringing the messiah before his allotted time (Babylonian Talmud. Yet in the mid-17th century, belief in the false messiah Shabbetai Tzvi spread like wildfire throughout the Jewish world, sweeping up entire communities and creating a crisis of faith unprecedented in Jewish history. Shabbetai Tzvi was said to be born on the 9th of Av in 1626, to a wealthy family of merchants in Smyrna (now Izmir, Turkey). He received a thorough Talmudic education and, still in his teens, was ordained as a hakham — a member of the rabbinic elite. However, Shabbetai Tzvi was interested less in Talmud than in Jewish mysticism. Starting in his late teens he studied kabbalah, attracting a group of followers whom he initiated into the secrets of the mystical tradition. Shabbetai Tzvi battled with what might now be diagnosed as severe bipolar disorder. He understood his condition in religious terms, experiencing his manic phases as moments of “illumination” and his times of depression as periods of “fall,” when God’s face was hidden from him.
  • Call for Fellowship Applications at the Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives

    Call for Fellowship Applications at the Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives

    H-Judaic Call for Fellowship Applications at the Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives Discussion published by Dana Herman on Sunday, January 7, 2018 The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives is pleased to invite applications to its annual Fellowship Program for the 2018-2019 academic year. The Marcus Center's Fellowship Program provides recipients with month long fellowships for research and writing at The Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives, located on the Cincinnati campus of the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Fellowship stipends will be sufficient to cover transportation and living expenses while in residence in Cincinnati. Applicants for the Marcus Center Fellowship Program must be conducting serious research in some area relating to the history of North American Jewry. Typically, Marcus Center Fellowships will be awarded to post-doctoral candidates, Ph.D. candidates who are completing dissertations, and senior or independent scholars. Applicants must submit a fellowship application together with a five-page (maximum) research proposal that outlines the scope of their project and lists those collections at the American Jewish Archives that are crucial to their research. Applicants should also submit two letters of support, preferably from academic colleagues. For graduate and doctoral students, one of these two letters must be from their dissertation advisor. Full information on the program, along with an application form, is available on the AJA’s website: http://americanjewisharchives.org/programs/fellowship.php The submission deadline for applications is no later than February 19, 2018. All inquiries and application materials should be forwarded to: Dr.
  • German Jews in the United States: a Guide to Archival Collections

    German Jews in the United States: a Guide to Archival Collections

    GERMAN HISTORICAL INSTITUTE,WASHINGTON,DC REFERENCE GUIDE 24 GERMAN JEWS IN THE UNITED STATES: AGUIDE TO ARCHIVAL COLLECTIONS Contents INTRODUCTION &ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 1 ABOUT THE EDITOR 6 ARCHIVAL COLLECTIONS (arranged alphabetically by state and then city) ALABAMA Montgomery 1. Alabama Department of Archives and History ................................ 7 ARIZONA Phoenix 2. Arizona Jewish Historical Society ........................................................ 8 ARKANSAS Little Rock 3. Arkansas History Commission and State Archives .......................... 9 CALIFORNIA Berkeley 4. University of California, Berkeley: Bancroft Library, Archives .................................................................................................. 10 5. Judah L. Mages Museum: Western Jewish History Center ........... 14 Beverly Hills 6. Acad. of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences: Margaret Herrick Library, Special Coll. ............................................................................ 16 Davis 7. University of California at Davis: Shields Library, Special Collections and Archives ..................................................................... 16 Long Beach 8. California State Library, Long Beach: Special Collections ............. 17 Los Angeles 9. John F. Kennedy Memorial Library: Special Collections ...............18 10. UCLA Film and Television Archive .................................................. 18 11. USC: Doheny Memorial Library, Lion Feuchtwanger Archive ...................................................................................................
  • Millennium, Jubilee and Human History Under God for Jews in the Middle Ages Rabbi Asher Finkel, Ph.D., Seton Hall University

    Millennium, Jubilee and Human History Under God for Jews in the Middle Ages Rabbi Asher Finkel, Ph.D., Seton Hall University

    Seton Hall University From the SelectedWorks of Rabbi Asher Finkel, Ph.D. 2003 Millennium, Jubilee and Human History under God for Jews in the Middle Ages Rabbi Asher Finkel, Ph.D., Seton Hall University This work is licensed under a Creative Commons CC_BY-NC-ND International License. Available at: https://works.bepress.com/asher_finkel/24/ Millennium, Jubilee and Human History under God for Jews in the Middle Ages Asher Finkel Jewish-Christian Studies Graduate Program Department of Religion Seton Hall University South Orange, NJ This article was published in Ich bin ein Hebraer: Gedenken an Otto Michel (1903 - 1993), edited by Helgo Lindner, 312-326. Tübingen: Mohr, 2003. MILLENNIUM, JUBILEE AND HUMAN HISTORY UNDER GOD FOR JEWS IN THE MIDDLE AGES Asher Finkel, Ph.D. The year 1240 is the beginning of the sixth millenium in the Jewish calendar. This year witnessed the Mongol invasion from the East, defeating the Germans and Poles, as well as the year that saw the new ascendancy of the Islamic power. The turn of events was perceived by Nachmanides as the appearance of the "fearsome and terrible beast" in Daniel's vision (Chapter 7) that preceded the coming of the Son of Man, the messianic figure in Jewish apocalypticism. Nachmanides1 portrays the Islamic empire as a "powerful kingdom that is closer to the truth than the former ones," referring to the other theriomorphic empires in Daniel's prophecy. Islam was perceived by Spanish Jewry to be a monotheistic faith, with emphasis on God's unity. Jews faced both Muslims and Christians on the Iberian peninsula, and they were also aware of the distinction between them.
  • JUBILEE SHABBAT a Day of Prayer, Worship, and Study Leading to Action to End the Cycle of Poverty Caused by International Debt

    JUBILEE SHABBAT a Day of Prayer, Worship, and Study Leading to Action to End the Cycle of Poverty Caused by International Debt

    A Resource for Your Synagogue or Jewish Faith Community I give you my smile. Photo by Daniela Hartmann JUBILEE SHABBAT A Day of Prayer, Worship, and Study Leading to Action to End the Cycle of Poverty Caused by International Debt 1 Contents SECTION 1 Introductory Materials A Letter of Welcome About Jubilee USA Minute for Mission Prayer SECTION 2 Dvar Torah and Discussion Guide Connection between Shemita, Yovel, and Har Sinai Equality and Freedom Beyond the Physical Security in the Land, Exile, Reward and Punishment Poverty and Debt SECTION 3 Additional Resources Call for a Sabbath Year to Repair a Broken World About Global Sabbath Invitation to become a Jubilee Congregations 2 A Jewish Worship & Action Resource for your Faith Community Dear Friends, Thank you for your interest in participating in Jubilee Shabbat, a national day of worship, study, and reflection leading to advocacy. Jubilee Shabbat has a special meaning for us in the Jewish world. As you know, the year of Jubilee proclaimed in the Torah took place every fifty years. It was a time when all debts were cancelled, land was returned, and people were freed. The Jubilee vision continues to serve as a powerful way for people of faith and conscience today to promote economic and social justice in our broken world. The spirit of Jubilee needs to be taken into the politics and economics of every nation on earth, including our own. As a part of Jubilee Shabbat, communities nationwide will examine the roots of Jubilee in the Torah as we read Parsha Behar Bechukotai and explore how we as Jews can band together to break the chains of debt and poverty and transform our world.
  • Chief Rabbi Joseph Herman Hertz

    Chief Rabbi Joseph Herman Hertz

    A Bridge across the Tigris: Chief Rabbi Joseph Herman Hertz Our Rabbis tell us that on the death of Abaye the bridge across the Tigris collapsed. A bridge serves to unite opposite shores; and so Abaye had united the opposing groups and conflicting parties of his time. Likewise Dr. Hertz’s personality was the bridge which served to unite different communities and bodies in this country and the Dominions into one common Jewish loyalty. —Dayan Yechezkel Abramsky: Eulogy for Chief Rabbi Hertz.[1] I At his death in 1946, Joseph Herman Hertz was the most celebrated rabbi in the world. He had been Chief Rabbi of the British Empire for 33 years, author or editor of several successful books, and champion of Jewish causes national and international. Even today, his edition of the Pentateuch, known as the Hertz Chumash, can be found in most centrist Orthodox synagogues, though it is often now outnumbered by other editions. His remarkable career grew out of three factors: a unique personality and capabilities; a particular background and education; and extraordinary times. Hertz was no superman; he had plenty of flaws and failings, but he made a massive contribution to Judaism and the Jewish People. Above all, Dayan Abramsky was right. Hertz was a bridge, who showed that a combination of old and new, tradition and modernity, Torah and worldly wisdom could generate a vibrant, authentic and enduring Judaism. Hertz was born in Rubrin, in what is now Slovakia on September 25, 1872.[2] His father, Simon, had studied with Rabbi Esriel Hisldesheimer at his seminary at Eisenstadt and was a teacher and grammarian as well as a plum farmer.
  • Hakham Jacob Sasportas and the Former Conversos

    Hakham Jacob Sasportas and the Former Conversos

    STUDIA ROSENTHALIANA 44 (2012), 149-172 doi: 10.2143/SR.44.0.2189614 Hakham Jacob Sasportas and the Former Conversos MATT GOLDISH AKHAM JACOB SASPORTAS (1610-1698) is best known for his battle H against the followers of the messiah Shabbatai Zvi in 1665-66, but he was an important figure for many other reasons as well. Sasportas was, for example, the only rabbi to serve (or at least live) in all the major centers of the Western Sephardi diaspora: Amsterdam, London, Hamburg, and Livorno. Before he ever arrived in Europe he had a distinguished rabbinic career in North Africa. He left behind important responsa and letters which throw light on a number of historical topics. One of these is the encounter between the traditional rabbinate and the cadre of for- mer conversos who escaped the Iberian Peninsula to create new lives as Jews in Western Europe. Yosef Kaplan has made the exploration of these communities the center of his scholarly endeavors for four decades. He has demonstrated that the communities of Western Sephardim looked like other Sephardic communities but operated very differently under the surface. Sasportas was a thoroughly traditional rabbi who took the respect of the rabbinate and rabbinic tradition with the utmost serious- ness. What happened when such a figure encountered communities of people who had grown up as Christians and subsequently created their own version of a Jewish community as they saw fit? Life Sasportas’s biography is an important key to many aspects of his activi- ties and attitudes. He came from one of the most respected and influen- tial Jewish families in North Africa.